So in the book Blaszczyk talks about the beautiful
Carrie Bradshaw, and I must say she is fabulous! Anyways, Carrie is the prime
example of every young woman. Living by herself in New York, with the world at
her fingertips. She has beautiful, and has the most amazing clothes. Like it
said in the book “she never wore the same clothes twice.” Carrie is a young
woman that had a lot of money and a nice job.
Carrie
is like the 21st century version of the women in the early 1900’s. Everyone
wanted to have nice clothes and nice things to show off to their neighbors, but
not everyone could afford it. Everyone wanted to be like a young Carrie but
times were different back then.
The
style was different in the early 1900’s. It definitely was not as bright and
colorful as Miss Bradshaw’s but they had the same ideas. Women would buy nice
lovely little corsets that they would use to break their ribs (to give them a
womanly shape). They would buy their clothes to represent social class. They would
buy clothes that would make them look like they are in a higher class then they
actually are. When you are a young woman you want to attract a nice man. So why
not lie about your social class to get a man that was in a higher class than
you?
Ready-
to- Wear was an easy way to wear some of the same clothes as people from a
higher class. Again anyone could look the same and Ready- to- Wear was the way
to make that happen. Another thing that showed class was the white collars. The
higher the collar the higher position you had at work. The point of the collar
was so men did not have to change their shirts, just the collars.
I agree with your stance on early 1900s women desiring the fanciest clothing and the most luxurious living. Women nowadays can more easily dress and act like their favorite celebrities and have the resource to dress like them as well with the boom in the fashion industry. It seems that nowadays most women wish to emulate Kim Kardashian or any other woman they see in the limelight. These celebrities are role models for the younger generation but they simply do not understand how big of an impact they have on their minds. Fashion has always been a symbol of wealth and prosperity, symbolizing that you have money and you can dress in whatever you wish. Individuality in regards to outer beauty has become a conglomerated mess of fads and trends. People simply do what their role model is doing or what is popular at that time. In the 1900s and today, women dressed to impress, but to impress meant to fit in. not stand out. If you wish to dress fancy and fashionable, then what do you do? Most people simply do what the person before them do so that when people see them, they think that he/she is "cool", "fashionable", or what have you simply because the wealthy and famous are doing it. This has been going on since fashion arrived and it has created generations of dreamers into people who give up their dreams to sell out and fit in. Individuality is no longer; rather, fads and trends are, and most everyone falls prey to them, even me. Everyone wants money, power, and respect, but you do not get that whilst fitting in. be an individual.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the point that people really do dress to impress. It has become a part of our culture. We, as a society, have become so influenced by what others think of our appearance. I think this all can be tied by to the early 1900s. As you mentioned, women went to extremes to change the shape of their bodies during this time. It is really no different today with the development of plastic surgery. It certainly is a different approach but I believe it stems from the same desire to impress the outside world.
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